network news
Zora moves from base to Solana: On-chain social platform and decentralized protocol Zora is making a decisive shift beyond its roots in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and creators with the launch of a “featured market” with Solana, a product that allows users to trade tokens tied to internet trends, memes, and cultural moments. The feature, announced on February 17th, will allow anyone to create a new market for 1 SOL. Once published, users can buy and sell positions on whether a topic gains or loses attention across social media. Rather than betting on elections or macro data, traders speculate on the buzz itself, including hashtags, viral stories, and even broader themes like “AI girlfriends” and “Bitcoin.” This design largely reflects Solana’s strengths. Fast block times and low transaction costs facilitate quick price updates and support for frequent trades, which are essential for markets built around online momentum. However, initial activities were limited. The market capitalization of the main “attentionmarkets” tokens reached around $70,000 at one point, and the trading volume reached around $200,000. Most other trending markets have struggled to gain meaningful liquidity, with few breaking above the $10,000 mark on their first day. The percentage fluctuations were sharp, but were largely driven by low order volumes rather than sustained demand. Zora is one of the breakout applications on Coinbase’s Layer 2-based network in recent years. The company launched the ZORA token there in April and helped roll out creator coins tied to the Base profile in July, which helped Base briefly overtake Solana in daily token creation. Creator Coins are tokens tied to individual creators’ online profiles, brands, and communities. Think of these as “stocks” that individuals can trade on the Internet. Platforms like Zora and Base automatically generate Creator Coins from a user’s profile. Fans may purchase coins to show support, gain social influence, or speculate on the creator’s increasing popularity. As more people buy, the price can rise, and as interest wanes, the price can fall. As such, some in the Base community saw the new “hot market” products as a turning point from that momentum. — Shaurya Marwa read more.
EF Managing Director to retire: Ethereum Foundation (EF) Co-Executive Director Tomasz Stańczak has announced that he will step down from his leadership role at the end of February 2026, bringing notable changes to the organization’s executive team. Stanczak, who will co-lead the foundation with Xiaowei Wang in early 2025, said in a blog post that he believes the foundation and the broader Ethereum ecosystem are in a “healthy state” as he prepares to hand over the reins to Bastian Aue, who will take on the role of co-executive director with Wang. Mr. Stanczak’s tenure began at a tumultuous time for EF. His appointment comes as longtime executive director Aya Miyaguchi transitions to a new leadership position amid mounting community criticism that the foundation is not doing enough to proactively promote the Ethereum ecosystem. At the time, critics pointed to a perceived disconnect between EF and its developers, including conflicts of interest, conflicts over strategic direction, and dissatisfaction with ETH’s price performance. Such criticism helped prompt a broader leadership reshuffle. Stańczak emphasized his confidence in the team’s ability to deliver on EF’s mission, while also expressing his intention to remain engaged in the ecosystem. — Margaux Nykerk read more.
XRP LEDGER releases members-only DEX: The XRP Ledger has enabled a new “Permissioned DEX” modification, a technology upgrade designed to allow regulated institutions to trade on XRPL without opening the market to everyone. This change, known as XLS-81, allows for the creation of a permissioned decentralized exchange that functions similarly to XRPL’s existing built-in DEX, but with important differences. Permitted domains allow you to restrict who can make offers and who accepts offers, creating a gated trading arena where participation is tied to compliance requirements such as KYC and AML checks. Think of this as a “members-only” marketplace while maintaining transaction mechanisms native to the ledger. This feature is aimed at banks, brokers, and other companies that require on-chain payments and liquidity but cannot interact with a fully open DeFi market. For these players, the ability to control access is not an option. That’s the minimum requirement. This activation also further expands the set of “institutional DeFi” primitives that XRPL is rolling out this month. Token Escrow (XLS-85) went live last week, extending XRPL’s native escrow system beyond XRP to all trustline-based and multipurpose tokens, including stablecoins like RLUSD and tokenized real-world assets. — Shaurya Marwa read more.
Ethereum members bring back new version of DAO: In the summer of 2016, decentralized autonomous organizations known as DAOs became a defining crisis in the early days of Ethereum. A smart contract exploit siphoned millions of dollars worth of Ether (ETH) from that initial project, and the community response (a controversial hard fork to recover those funds) caused the original chain to split from the current chain, leaving behind an older chain known as Ethereum Classic. DAO was once the largest crowdfunding effort in cryptocurrency history, but it has faded into a cautionary tale about governance, security, and the limits of “code is law.” Now, nearly 10 years later, the story has taken an unexpected turn. What was lost, or rather what was left untouched, is being repurposed into a security fund of up to $150 million (at current prices) for the Ethereum ecosystem. The fund, currently known as TheDAO Security Fund, will stake a portion of its 75,000 dormant ether (ETH) and deploy its yield to support Ethereum’s security research, tools, and rapid response efforts through community-driven funding rounds, while remaining available for claim by remaining eligible token holders. At the center of this story is Griff Green, one of the original DAO curators and a veteran of Ethereum decentralized governance. “When the DAO hack happened[in 2016]obviously I sprung into action and basically led everything short of a hard fork,” Green said of forming a white hat group to rescue funds on the original Ethereum chain. “We hacked all these hackers. It was just a DAO war.” This effort, along with others, helped recover funds that might have otherwise been lost forever. At the time, the hard fork restored approximately 97% of DAO funds to token holders, but left a small portion, approximately 3%, unresolved. These “edge case” funds come from quirks in the original smart contract: people paying more than expected, people burning tokens to form sub-DAOs, and other anomalies that were not clearly mapped. Over time, that balance, once worth only a few million, swelled into something much more significant due to the rising value of the ether. “The value of the funds we manage has increased dramatically…well over 75,000 ETH,” the new DAO fund blog post states. — Margaux Nykerk read more.
In other news
- A recent poll of 1,000 US investors in digital assets found that more than half are concerned about facing IRS tax penalties this year as new transparency rules governing virtual currency exchanges take effect. Data collected by crypto tax platform Awaken Tax in late January highlighted U.S. holders’ concerns about the rapid shift from self-disclosure of transactions to automated reporting. This was enacted with the introduction of “Digital Asset Income from Brokered Transactions” (Form 1099-DA), which will be made known to tens of millions of Americans over the next month or so. The new rules aim to crack down on crypto tax evasion and force brokers such as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) to report to tax authorities all sales and exchanges of digital assets that occur in 2025. The goal is to make in-exchange customer data publicly available for the first time, allowing the IRS to compare what crypto brokers report with what taxpayers declare, giving tax authorities a clearer picture of investors’ profits and losses. Awaken Tax founder Andrew Duca says the goal is to eliminate the margin of error, but the rules are a “blunt weapon” created by lawmakers who know nothing about cryptocurrencies. “This means that cryptocurrencies are treated like stocks, but they don’t work that way. Actual crypto users will use fairly complex trading strategies to move assets between multiple wallets and interact with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols,” Duca said. — Ian Allison read more.
- Cryptocurrency venture firm Dragonfly Capital has completed its fourth $650 million fund, marking one of the largest fundraisings in the space at a time when many blockchain-focused venture capital firms are struggling, managing partner Haseeb Qureshi said. “It’s a strange time to celebrate,” Qureshi said in a social media post, referring to the demoralization of cryptocurrencies and the “bear market blues.” But he noted that Dragonfly has historically raised capital during downturns, such as the ICO crash in 2018 and right before the Terra bankruptcy in 2022, and said “vintage” ended up being the company’s best performer. In September, the company announced it was aiming to raise $500 million in a fourth fund aimed at early-stage projects. None of them have been identified yet. In May 2023, Dragonfly Capital raised $650 million for its third crypto fund for late-stage companies. — Olivier Acuña read more.
regulation and policy
- HyperLiquid (HYPE), the blockchain-based exchange that processed more than $250 billion in perpetual futures trades last month, has launched a US lobbying and research arm to shape how lawmakers regulate decentralized finance (DeFi). The HyperLiquid Policy Center, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., will focus on regulatory frameworks for decentralized exchanges, perpetual futures, and blockchain-based market infrastructure, according to a press release. Jake Chervinski, a prominent cryptocurrency lawyer and former head of policy at the Blockchain Association, will serve as founder and CEO. The launch comes as Congress and federal agencies debate how to oversee crypto trading platforms and derivatives markets. Perpetual futures, which allow traders to hold leveraged positions with no expiration date, are widely used on offshore exchanges but remain a gray area under U.S. law. The new group’s arrival is also the latest entrant into Washington’s crypto policy scene, which is crowded with similar organizations such as the DeFi Education Fund and the Solana Policy Institute, in addition to broader groups such as the Digital Chamber, the Blockchain Association, and the Crypto Council for Innovation. The new organization will be launched as negotiations progress smoothly on a Senate bill that could define U.S. DeFi policy. — Christian Sander read more.
- The states’ legal challenges to certain aspects of prediction markets, such as polymarkets and calci, have drawn a sharp rebuke from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig, who argues that jurisdiction lies with federal agencies, not states. “To those who seek to challenge our authority in this area, let me be clear: We will see you in court,” Selig said in a video statement posted on social media site X. Mr. Selig’s agency said it had filed legal briefs with the court to support the federal role as the lead regulator for this corner of the derivatives market. “The CFTC has been regulating these markets for over 20 years,” he said. “They serve a beneficial function for society by helping ordinary Americans hedge against commercial risks such as rising temperatures and rising energy prices. They also serve as an important check on news media and the flow of information.” — jesse hamilton read more.
calendar
- February 18-21, 2026: East Denver, Denver
- February 23-24, 2026: NearCon, San Francisco
- March 24-26, 2026: Digital Asset Summit, New York City
- March 30-April 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- April 15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- April 29-30, 2026: Token2049, Dubai
- May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
- September 29th – October 1st, 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- October 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- November 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- 15-17 November 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
